Grand hands Carbon a nightmarish start to 2012 season

After getting out to their best start in over half a century to start last season, this was not the start Carbon High coaches and players were hoping for to start 2012.

Grand wasted no time capitalizing on Carbon High's mistakes and miscues, scoring early and often in a 42-0 win.

After the game, Carbon High head coach said the loss should prove to be a "wake-up call" to his team to get better quickly.

"It's a big time wake-up call for all of us," Blanc said. "Will the team accept the challenge to get better from here? We'll have to see."

The first offensive series for Carbon High proved to be a difference maker as the fourth down snap sailed over punter Jordan Blanc head, landing just shy of the endzone. Blanc scooped up the ball and found an opening but was shy of a first down. A few plays later Jacob Francis, Grand's do-everything quarterback and placekicker, scored on a 1-yard run to put Grand ahead 7-0 less than two minutes into the game.

Late in the first quarter, Carbon High senior quarterback Dakota Cisneros was intercepted by a Grand defender who ran the ball down to the Carbon High 1-yard line. Two plays later, Grand's Koi Cook pushed the ball pass the goalline giving the Red Devils a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Twenty seconds into the second quarter, the Grand defense collected their second interception off Cisneros. Cisneros did exact a matter of revenge moments later when he intercepted a Francis pass at the Carbon High 2-yard line. Carbon was unable to sustain a drive before punting back to Grand.

Francis again led the Red Devils down the field before taking the ball himself, shaking off a handful of Dino defenders on his way to the endzone extending the lead to 21-0 with five minutes left in the first half.

A few plays later, Cisneros was pushed out of the pocket by Grand defenders and threw a pass over the head of a Dino receiver that was intercepted by another Grand player.

Francis scored on another 1-yard run for Grand putting them ahead 28-0 heading into halftime.

The Carbon High defense came out of the locker room and played with a little more fire, stopping Grand on consecutive plays to set up a third-and-long for the Red Devils. On the next play Francis took the snap and broke away from a number of Carbon defenders for a first down that seemed to deflate the Carbon defenders. One play later, Grand's Cameron Taylor scored on another short run giving the Red Devils a 35-0 lead.

The Carbon offense showed some life on their next drive as Cisneros connected with junior wide receiver Kyle Barrett on a long pass that Barrett fully extended for and held on to the ball. However on the next play, Francis intercepted another overthrown ball ending the best drive the Dinos offense had all game long.

The Grand offense needed less than two minutes to march down the field for another score as Francis found a wide open Kamron Call for a 25-yard touchdown pushing their lead to 42-0.

Carbon had a final chance to score early in the fourth quarter but a Cisneros pass to a wide open senior wide receiver Jordan Blanc tipped off Blanc's hands on a fourth-and-9 at the Grand 32-yard line.

"We've got lots of hard work in front of us," Blanc said. "We shot ourselves in the foot with turnovers and our tackling all game long was atrocious."

Blanc said despite all of the hard work put in by the team in the offseason, the Dinos looked lethargic coming out of the gates. He said the coaching staff will make sure the Dinos don't go into their next game on the road Friday night at 7 p.m. against American Leadership Academy with the same mindset.

"We need to execute a lot better on offense and defense," he explained. "I know the guys won't want to have the same result happen to them again."

Other notes: For Carbon High, the shutout loss to Grand extended a scoreless streak that has reached eight quarters dating back to their 42-0 season finale loss to Spanish Fork in 2011.

The loss also snapped the Dinos two-year streak of winning their opening game during Blanc's tenure as head coach. They defeated Monticello twice the past two season, 13-6 in 2010 and 27-20 last season.